By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
THE City of Casey is continually recognised for its multiculturalism.
A plethora of people and families with wide-ranging nationalities live there.
When one considers the recent terror plot allegations levelled at a number of Casey teens, as well as last September’s stabbing outside the Endeavour Hills police station, the term ‘cultural harmony’ has arguably never held more importance for the municipality than it does at the moment.
The Triveni Society of Victoria, based in Casey, is ever aware of bubbling race tensions and recently held a four-week multi-faith pilgrimage to address this issue and help educate the community, after receiving a $7500 grant from the Victorian Multicultural Commission.
The state government funding allowed the Triveni Society to hold a number of events and prayer sessions, celebrating the different cultures of Buddhism, Sikh, Hindu and Islam.
Triveni Society founder Satya Goundan said the aim of the four-week pilgrimage was to educate its members and the broader community “about different faiths and bridge faith polarisation resulting from the extremist trends in the world today”.
“In the current global climate of Islamophobia induced by terrorism and violence extremism, the Triveni Society of Victoria has embarked on a radical plan to alleviate the misconceptions related to Islam and other faiths and counter radicalisation,” he said.
“As some young people of different faith communities are blindly bamboozled into extremism by the radicals via the social media, living safely together is creating great fears and suspicion, sparked by the recent, sudden descent of youths into extremism.
“Early intervention is necessary to reverse these dangerous trends and a powerful medium is through direct education and experience.”
The pilgrimage saw the group attend a range of services throughout the region, including a prayer session at Buddhist Vihar in Berwick, a Sikh Temple in Keysborough, a Vishnu Temple in Carrum Downs and the Hindu festival, Holi.
“Through the pilgrimage you are directly participating and actively involved in that faith,” Mr Goundan said.
“You are actually present there, and when you are present there and with their people and actively participating, you get a much clearer picture of their faith.
“It’s the fear factor that was driving these concerns and a lack of knowledge – the education factor is very important.”
